Why Cameron is No Ordinary Kid - Part 36


After I'd got over the lovely surprise of my Mother Day gifts I  was able to have a leisurely shower while Michael watched Cameron. We got Cameron ready and then sat back to await the arrival of our doctor, hopefully he was going to say we could take Cameron out for a few hours.

We waited and we waited while the morning slipped away. We really had nothing to do except sit or pace the floor. Lunch was getting closer and closer. As the time got later we spent a lot of time standing in the doorway looking down the corridor willing the doctor to walk around the corner. The sense of anticipation and anxiety was mounting.

As we stood in the doorway looking down the corridor we observed a nurse enter the fourth isolation room. She was a lovely young nurse who we really liked. All of a sudden we heard a voice escalating in volume and then the nurse raced out of the room and around the corner out of sight. The mother of the baby in the room came to her door and started to scream abuse at the nurse.

Suddenly she had the attention of every nurse and parent on the ward. The nurse returned with another more experienced nurse and they tried to calm the mother down and figure out why she was so upset. The confrontation continued with more nurses trying to assist and then moving away to reduce the intensity of the situation. A nurse removed the first nurse for her own safety because physical violence was being threatened. The nurse was very upset.

Imagine standing there next to your baby as you hear an adult screaming and threatening abuse. It was terrifying and suddenly I no longer wanted to leave the ward. I picked up Cameron and held him tight. I was trying to protect him from the anger and noise. I was shaking inside and scared. I felt safer because Michael was with me but still scared.

After about half an hour a nurse managed to calm the mother down and soothe the situation. It had all escalated out a simple and innocent comment made by the nurse which had been taken out of context and misinterpreted. If she has said what she'd said to any other mother on the ward the mother would have laughed, it was just the wrong person at the wrong time.

Michael pointed out that we needed to leave, it was getting late and we were going to be late for lunch. I didn't want to leave Cameron and where was the doctor?

The staff couldn't explain why the doctor hadn't arrived but they couldn't allow us to take Cameron out of the hospital. We either didn't go to lunch or we went without Cameron. I sat on the bed clinging to Cameron,  not wanting to put him down.

Michael sat with me, while I clung onto Cameron, and assured me that he would be safe. The nurses assured me Cameron would be alright, it was time to go. I reluctantly left Cameron in the care of a trusted nurse and walked past room four with a knot in my stomach.

Once out in the real world, with fresh air, my brain suddenly turned to practicalities. We were now late for lunch and we knew our parents would be disappointed. Michael suggested we stop and pick up some flowers for our mothers. We ended up with potted chrysanthemums for each of them to try and make their special day a little more special.


We finally arrived at lunch, late, bearing gifts and apologies. We had a nice lunch but I was anxious the whole time to get back to Cameron and was relieved when we decided it was time to leave.

There was a sense of peace when I walked back into our room and found Cameron safe.

Comments

  1. I'm curious. What was it the nurse said to the outraged mother?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll message you Sharon - I don't want to say in public.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment